


How Not to Find a Boyfriend

by Drea_is_Dreaming



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Character Turned Into a Ghost, Fake ghost boyfriend, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Ghosts, Hendery does not want to go on blind dates, Lucas is the best wingman ever, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, and they were ROOMMATES, fake dating but with a twist, kunten if you squint, mark lee is stressed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:22:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27668815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drea_is_Dreaming/pseuds/Drea_is_Dreaming
Summary: "I told them I have a boyfriend and now they want to meet him," Hendery said, flopping down on the bed in despair."I could do it." Dejun said suddenly, "I can act as your boyfriend if it will stop your friends from setting you up on all those blind dates."Hendery bolted upright at that. This idea was worth considering.Pros: Dejun had a sweet and amiable personality. He was cheerful and an overall nice and caring guy. He and Hendery knew each other well, they were literally roommates. He could easily impress Hendery's friends and make them back off.Cons: Dejun was a ghost haunting Hendery's dorm room.
Relationships: Wong Kun Hang | Hendery/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun
Comments: 11
Kudos: 37
Collections: NCT Bigbang Round 1





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Fake dating is my absolute favourite trope. But I don't like all the angst it involves so I wanted to give it a fresh twist.

The cafe looked cosy, late afternoon sunlight streaming in through wide windows. Potted plants lined the windowsills, and the crisp aroma of coffee hung in the air. Hendery saw his friends occupying one of the booths in front of the windows, he tried to wave at them, but the trio was busy talking among themselves. Hendery just grabbed Dejun’s hand while pushing the door open, and led him up to them.

Mark noticed them first and smiled brightly, elbowing Lucas to get his attention, who promptly got up and hugged Hendery, and Yeri excitedly shook hands with Dejun. 

Introductions were made, Dejun’s eyebrows were complemented and Yeri cooed about what a cute couple they made. Lucas complained about being kept in the dark for so long by his cousin. Mark asked about Dejun’s major and stuff.

As introducing a boyfriend to your friends went, this meeting was going pretty well. Dejun was his usual cheerful self, his melodious voice, soft laughter and shining eyes had won over Hendery’s friends in a matter of minutes. So much so that they had decided to ignore Hendery’s existence and shower Dejun with all their attention and praise. He did not mind at all, in fact, Hendery was happy in letting Dejun do the talking, content to soak up in the warmth of his smiles.

When Yeri left to answer a call Lucas started to give Dejun an apology that should honestly be addressed to Hendery.

“Dejun, I should really apologise for setting up Hendery on so many blind dates.” He said, making Mark burst out into giggles. Hendery made his disgust known through his contorted face, until Dejun bumped a shoulder with him, laughing and making him smile.

“I won’t hold it against you Lucas, you were just looking out for your cousin.” Dejun told him.

“Exactly! I just wanted to make sure he was not the only single guy in our group. I was dating a senior, Yeri was trying to date a senior, Mark has his senior goth boyfriend-” Mark choked on his americano at that, “I didn’t want my bro to feel left out.”

Mark coughed out a quiet “I don't have a boyfriend.” but it was drowned out by Lucas and Dejun’s laughter. 

“Thanks, Lucas, but it was all very unnecessary.” Hendery told him, “Anyways, I have a wonderful boyfriend now, so you can stop worrying about me. Dejun always takes good care of me.” Hendery said the last bit smiling at Dejun.

"Yeah well, if you had just told us about Dejun earlier, I wouldn't have had to do all that." Lucas told him, pouting.

"Hendery took an awfully long time introducing us. We all could've been friends all this time!" Mark exclaimed.

" Yeah Dery, why did you hide Dejun from us!" Lucas joined Mark in complaining.

Hendery just tried to laugh it off, but Lucas just wasn't ready to give it up.

"No seriously man. I'm kinda hurt you didn't tell me first, like, I told you about every single crush I've ever had since middle school. And you don't tell me about your first serious boyfriend? " His cousin said, placing a hand over his heart.

It was true, Lucas and Hendery had been the best of friends since childhood, they even used to live in the same neighbourhood in middle school. The two were inseparable. Always looking out of each other. There were never any secrets between the cousins. Until now.

Before Hendery could think of a response, Dejun spoke up,

"It's not Dery's fault." The nickname felt sweeter on his lips, and Hendery was astonished by how naturally Dejun said it. Considering this was the first time he was using it.

"I was the one who was nervous. I didn't think you guys would like me." 

"Why would you think that?" Lucas asked, eyes wide in surprise.

"Ah, I had very valid reasons to think I would not get along with Hendery's friends, especially with you Lucas." Dejun told him.

"What? Why? What reasons?"

Hendery had to laugh a little at Lucas' befuddled expression, even Mark gave a confused chuckle.

"Hendery told me that you both love strawberry ice cream," Dejun said with a scrunched up nose. It was true, the cousins loved the flavour.

" So what?"

"I honestly can't imagine eating it, I hate it, man. To be honest I think it's disgusting." Dejun declared, much to Lucas' chagrin.

"Hey! Come on now that's not fair, it is a great flavour. Hendery loves it too, we always had it after school!"

"I know, and I love him despite the fact." Dejun told them with his eyes closed and a pained expression on his face.

Any offence Hendery had felt over Dejun insulting his favourite ice cream flavour, was forgotten in the wake of these words.

Dejun just said he loved him. He loved Hendery. And then kept on laughing with Mark, like he hadn't just tilted Hendery's whole world off its axis.

Lucas was sulking, and as the two boys stopped laughing, Dejun turned his head to look at Hendery who had been holding his breath the whole time, only to ask him,

"You said you love me?" It was not even a question but Hendery turned it into one. Dejun's face turned impossibly red as he struggled to get a response out. Hendery knew they were in a public space, and under the scrutiny of his friends, but he still wanted to see how much truth those words held. 

The panic in Dejun's eyes told him that he hadn't realised the words had slipped out of his mouth. Maybe Hendery was not the only one who's feelings ran deeper than initially intended.

"Of course he does, why would he bear with your strawberry ice cream loving ass otherwise?" Mark saved Dejun from giving a reply.

"Good," Hendery replied, but he was looking into Dejun's eyes, " because I also love his mint choco loving ass."

The panic vanished from Dejun's eyes at that, and his face began to melt into a soft smile. 

"Mint choco?" Lucas exclaimed, and Hendery's two friends created a ruckus loud enough to catch the whole cafe's attention. Lucas called him out on the sheer audacity to hate strawberry while mint choco tasted like toothpaste. Mark was not a fan of either flavour, but he made his disgust known for mint choco. And Dejun, he felt compelled to defend his taste, rather aggressively at that. 

Within a minute the two of them went from banging their palms on the table to standing and shouting at each other. It was all in good humour but one of the patrons did not look happy with all the noise and was walking up to them with an intense look.

"See this is why I didn't think we'd get along. Very few people can appreciate the-"

"Dejun?" The patron Hendery had noticed was now standing in front of them, and looking at Dejun in disbelief.

"Kun ge?" Lucas drew Hendery's attention away from the man. He looked like he recognised the stranger.

When Hendery turned to see whether Dejun knew him too or-

But Hendery's gaze was met with an empty seat, Dejun nowhere in sight. Seemingly vanished into thin air. Like a figment of Hendery's imagination. Like a dream too good to be true.

It was not a surprising event for Hendery, but it caught the others totally off guard. As he looked back at his friends, Lucas was swinging his head around in every direction as if to see where Dejun could've run to. Mark just sat there with his eyes and mouth wide open. 

"Where did he go? He was just standing right here-" Mark was saying, more to himself than anyone else.

"Kun ge, what-" Lucas began, addressing the man, who now held his head in his hands. Then he suddenly decided to run out of the cafe, but what confused Hendery, even more, was that Lucas decided to run after him.

Now Hendery was left alone with Mark as another man walked up to their table and threw glitter in their faces. Hendery was so stunned with the turn of events that he couldn't react before the man was out the door and running after Lucas.

"What the hell was that?" He exclaimed, brushing off glitter from his hair and clothes. He got some in his mouth too. Ugh.

Mark had been looking at him with that calculating face he got when he was going to tackle a particularly complex assignment. Like Hendery was a question, to be approached with a lot of thought.

"Hendery, your boyfriend is a ghost." Mark told him like he was relaying grave news. All seriousness and furrowed brows.

Hendery felt like he couldn't very well keep up the charade anymore. So he decided to come clean.

"He isn't actually my boyfriend. I mean we're not really dating." He said, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.  
"Why are you not denying the ghost part?" A thoroughly confused Mark asked.

"Well, because he is a ghost, and it was kinda obvious?" Hendery starts, but Mark wasn't listening.

"How did you even end up dating a ghost? And you really brought him here to meet us? In broad daylight?" Mark kept on rambling.  
"Mark, I told you, we are not dating," Hendery told him firmly, slamming his hands on the table for good measure. That gave Mark a pause. After a long inhale he said,

"Let me get this straight. You brought along a ghost you're not even dating, to meet your friends while posing as your boyfriend."  
"Yes," Hendery replied, but once again Mark was not listening.  
"Not only did you try to fool us with a fake boyfriend, but that fake boyfriend is also a ghost?"  
"It sounds like a terrible idea when you put it like that, but it almost worked."  
"Hendery!"  
"What?"  
"You got a lot of explaining to do here."  
"I know, I know and I will. Once Dejun is back."  
"What do you mean?" Mark asked.  
"Oh, he's here, he'll be visible again soon. He usually manifests back in a couple of minutes."

Mark gave him an incredulous look. Hendery just smiled at him calmly. Yeri finally came back in and found the two in this state. One friend bewildered beyond measure, and the other sitting across him with a serenity that would remind one of a saint.

“Guys… Where did Lucas and Dejun go?” she asked, grabbing her bag from the table and putting her phone back in.  
“He just went out.”  
“Vanished into thin air.”  
Hendery and Mark said at the same time.

Hendery had no way of telling if this sounded weird to Yeri, as she looked in a hurry to leave.

“Okay, so guys I need to get going. It’s an emergency.” She told them while trying to give each half a hug.  
“What happened? You need us to come along?” Mark asked, finally breaking his pissed-off stare off with Hendery and looking up.  
“Nah, Joy just broke up with her asshole boyfriend, and she needs a friend.”  
“Oh, take care of her Yerim. Breakups are hard.” Mark said, with too much emotion for a passing remark.  
“Oh, she’s not sad or anything, we’re just going shopping to celebrate her being single again,” Yeri replied cheerfully. She left after saying “You worry too much Markles.” while pinching his cheeks, and giving Hendery a flying kiss as a goodbye.

It had been almost 10 minutes since Dejun had vanished, and him not reappearing had started to bother Hendery more than he would like Mark to know. Which Mark obviously picks upon, because of course, he does, and very pointedly looks at his ancient wristwatch. 

“You said Dejun will be back in a couple of minutes. It’s already been ten since he poofed out of existence.”  
“Maybe he just doesn’t want to make a scene by suddenly materialising.”  
“Like him, vanishing didn’t draw any attention.” Mark scoffed.

Now that Mark brought it up, Hendery couldn’t help but scope the premises of the cafe. It felt strange that no one had reacted to the supernatural disappearance. There were about 5 other customers seated close by, close enough to witness. Plus the staff. How could such a loud group as theirs escape notice?

Could it be that Dejun had only made himself visible to his three friends? But then Hendery thought of the stranger Lucas followed out. He had seen Dejun, recognised him, and even seen him vanish. 

Mark stood up and dusted off glitter from his sleeves, and Hendery’s mind brought back an image of a guy blowing it in their faces and then running after Lucas. He had dark hair and delicate, feline features, a slight build. 

“Are you just gonna sit here?” Mark asked in an exasperated tone. “We need to find Dejun.” Hendery got up at that. 

“Why are you so concerned about a ghost? It's not like he’ll get hurt or anything. Dejun is fine. He’s probably back at the dorm, waiting for me to come back. This was the longest Dejun had ever managed to stay visible. Dejun would be okay, of course, he'll be." Even to Hendery's own ears, it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Mark.

They walked back to the dorms, and if Hendery's pace was too brisk and he bumped into a few pedestrians and went on without apologising, Mark made no comments about it. He was full out jogging when the dorm building came into view. Hendery was properly out of breath by the time he pushed his door open, to reveal an empty room.

"Dejun! Dejun we’re back. Are you okay?" He said out loud. Perhaps a little too loud, as Mark closed the door behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, turning Hendery to face him.

“Dude,” he said, “calm down.” bringing his other hand up to Hendery’s shoulder too, and pushing him down onto the bed. “Sit, and tell me everything,” he said sitting down next to Hendery. “From the start, everything you know about Dejun.”

“I don’t even know where to start.” Hendery said, “Mark, Dejun pushed himself so much because of me, and if something bad happened to him-”

“Dery,” Mark shook his shoulders, “you said it yourself, he is a ghost. What bad thing could happen to him?” 

What he didn’t say was, ‘he’s dead already, what harm could come to him?’

Where could a ghost go after vanishing? Cross over to the other side? Ascend to heaven? These options might not be bad per se. For Dejun. But for Hendery each one of them was equally painful. Because all of them took Dejun away from him. He might never see Dejun again. The thought made a phantom ache start throbbing in his chest. He could feel his eyes get clouded over by tears. He shut his eyes tight to keep them from spilling, which obviously did not work as Mark pulled him in for a hug.

Only now, at this moment, after weeks of knowing Dejun, did Hendery realise that he was dead. He knew that Dejun was dead from day one, but now he fully understood what that meant. Only now did he realise how much it affected him. Only now did he accept that he did not want Dejun to be dead. How much he wanted Dejun to be with him, even if it was as a ghost.  
“Dery, I can’t help if you don’t tell me anything,” Mark said rubbing his back. “Tell me. Who is- was Dejun?” 

At the change to past tense Hendery just full outburst into tears.

Who was Dejun? In the beginning, he was just a ghost haunting Hendery’s dorm room.

*****


	2. One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back! Sorry to leave you hanging with just a prologue. Here's a chapter, and the next will be uploaded in a week. I hope you like it •‿•
> 
> I added a couple of songs that I listened to while writing this. I hope it'll create a nice ambience if you listen to them.

Hendery followed the RA, Yuta, into his dorm room, trying to keep up with his quick steps and quicker words.

“This is the list of rules you must absolutely not break. Unless you want to be used as a ritual sacrifice and have your soul sold off to demons.” The RA, Yuta, said with such gravity that Hendery found himself nodding his head vigorously in agreement. The RA broke into a bright smile on seeing his face and put the paper on his desk.

“Your roommate already moved in, but he went out with some friends,” Yuta told him. Hendery could see that the bed on the left already had sheets and a few plushies on them. As Hendery threw his duffel bag on the remaining bed, Yuta turned to take his leave.

“Follow the rules, make friends and have fun. As your upperclassman, I can tell you this that Sophomore year will be harder than it seems. So, don’t waste all your time partying. If you ever need any help, you know where to find me.” With that and a final wave, the senior left Hendery to his own devices.

Hendery set about to start unpacking when a boy peeked in, holding on to the door with both hands and leaning on it, but not stepping inside. His wide eyes scoured over the whole room from the ceiling to the closet to the carpet. Coming to rest at Hendery who gave him a puzzled smile. He could see the boy bouncing on his toes. There was this bubbliness on his face, like a kid excited for a game.

“Hi! I’m YangYang.” The boy said, waving his hand enthusiastically.  
“Hi, I’m Hendery.” For a moment he thought if this was his roommate, but YangYang quickly cleared that doubt.

“I’m a freshman and the RA told me all the stories so I had to come and check out the haunted room.” He said with a little laugh and even Hendery laughed along for a second, and then it hit him. Haunted room?

“I’m sorry what?” 

“Oh… you uh… you didn’t know,” YangYang said letting go of the door to put his hands behind his back. The previous mischief left his face a little as he ventured into the room with heavy steps.

“What did Yuta tell you?” Hendery asked only half-jokingly. He wasn’t scared of ghosts or anything. It's not like ghosts were real anyway.

“He told me about how a group of friends once messed around with an ouija board.” YangYang settled on Hendery’s bed like it was his own. 

“Oh.” Hendery tried to look interested and sat down beside him.

“And they called up the spirit of a witch. Let me tell you, he was not impressed and killed them all on the spot.” YangYang spoke like he was reciting a Disney villain’s backstory.

“Ouch. That sounds extreme.” Hendery had to say when YangYang gave him such an expectant look.

“Not only that, the ghost has stuck around ever since. In this very room.” His voice turned into a whisper at the end of that statement. The effect was ruined by the bright daylight and the chatter of students in the hallway.

Hendery felt like he ought to be scared but he couldn’t really bring himself to play along. So obviously YangYang went on.

“They even called in paranormal investigators some years ago, but even they couldn’t get rid of the ghost.”

“Woah, seems like it’s a very dangerous one.”

“Yeah, it is. It’s a pretty popular story, did you really not know?” YangYang asked.

“Nah, I mean, I don’t really believe in ghosts and stuff.”

“Oh, cool.”

YangYang left after a little chit chat. And the ghost story left Hendery’s mind when Lucas came over with his roommate Mark and insisted they need to go out to eat.

*****

The first couple of weeks back at college were brutal. More than Hendery had anticipated. He’s already a part of some group project where literally no one seems interested in doing any work. He has no classes with his cousin and only one each with his friends, Mark and Yeri. Curiously he still has to meet his roommate. He knew it was another sophomore.

Yuta had told him that much, but Hendery hadn’t bothered to inquire about anything else. 

He came back long after Hendery had settled in his bed for the night and left early, even before Hendery woke up. Maybe he had some morning classes. Or a job with an early morning shift. It’s not like Hendery was ever conscious before 8:40 anyways. 

Hendery looked to the other side of the room. The bedsheet was just as smooth as if no one ever even sat on the bed, the plushies were all sitting on their assigned spots. The desk had books and stationery arranged neatly. His roommate’s half of the room looked like it had been untouched. Hendery would’ve thought no one else lived here had he not heard his roommate move around at night. 

Meanwhile, Hendery hadn’t even had the time to properly unpack and put his stuff in the closet. His desk currently had three books open on top of his laptop that he was struggling to work on. He had to cover up for lazy teammates too. On top of all that YangYang had made it a habit to drop by his room a couple of times every day and relay some ghostly anecdote, he had gathered from the seniors.

“Hey, how are you doing?” he said now, no longer bothering to peek in or knock, but coming straight in and lounging on Hendery’s bed. Not that Hendery had any issues, YangYang was fun to hang out with. When he was not acting like a budding ghost hunter that is.

“Just swamped with school work. You?” Hendery said, spinning around to face his new friend. He reckoned he deserved a break, the last one he took was 15 minutes ago when he got up to get a pack of chips.

“Ah, I’m good. Almost got mugged but otherwise, everything is fine. I even made some new friends.”

“What do you mean you got mugged?” Hendery asked not sure what to be more worried about. YangYang getting mugged or YangYang dismissing it so casually.

"Almost. A couple of guys suddenly came into the alley and helped me.”

“Suddenly?”

“Yeah, it was like they just came out of nowhere. At first, I thought they were following the man to catch him red-handed. But they were just passing by.”

“Are you sure you're okay? You’re not hurt, right?” Hendery asked, looking the bony boy up and down. YangYang laughed in response.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m perfectly okay. That was a one-off incident, these things happen in cities like New York.” he said, putting both hands behind his head and falling back on the bed, “You are the one who lives in perpetual danger Hendery.”

“Huh?” Hendery turned back to check a text on his 99 trio group chat. Lucas had yet again invited them to a party. Yeri was excited, Mark was persuaded, but Hendery wanted to decline.

“You know, you are the one who lives with a demonic entity.”

“I’ll have you know my roommate if is actually a very nice person, very cleanliness conscious-”

“I mean your supernatural roommate. The one who crosses over to this realm in the dark of night.” and YangYang was back to his antics.

“I thought it could also become active in daytime? Last time you said it threw a flower pot out the window during the day, and everyone saw it?” Hendery asked. The only reason he ever paid attention to these supposedly true accounts of past paranormal occurrences in his room was so he could later poke fun at the plotholes.

“Oh no, it threw out a lamp, but even that was at night. You know Steve from the microbiology department, he saw it himself. He was coming back from a party when the lamp landed at his feet. He said he was lucky it didn’t hit his head.”

There were several arguments that could be made but Hendery did not bother. YangYang had decided that this room was infested with an evil phantom, and nothing Hendery said made any difference to him.

“Is that why you never come up to my room after dark?”

“Dude, no one in their right mind would even come up to your floor after dark.” YangYang said with a shiver. 

“You should head back then YangYang, it’s getting dark.” a voice spoke from the door. Hendery and YangYang both jumped in their seats.

It was Yuta, leaning on the doorway. Hendery could never tell what mood the RA was in. His face was like a blank canvas, a smile could paint a brilliant sunrise on it, but in the absence of colours, it looked overly intimidating. The platinum blonde hair, the undercut and piercings certainly didn’t make him look any softer. At least he was not the only one to think so, as YangYang scurried off Hendery’s bed and left with a silent salute. Yuta requested to come in and asked,

“Hendery, have you talked to your roommate about his timings. I’m concerned he might be breaking the curfew. I can never catch him to ask him myself.” Yuta, like always, got straight to the point.

“Ah, no, we don’t actually run into each other that much.” Hendery didn’t even know what his roommates’ name was, and at this point, he was too afraid to ask.

“Oh… okay.” Yuta didn’t push it. He was almost out the door when he turned and asked, “ YangYang doesn’t bother you too much, right? Do you want me to talk to him? Regarding the ghostly tales?”

“Ah no, no. He doesn’t bother me. I actually like it when he comes around. He makes daily rounds to make sure the ghost hasn’t killed me.” Hendery laughed a little at the last bit, and even Yuta smiled.

“YangYang’s a good kid. He’s friends with every single resident on his floor.”

“Yeah, he is very amiable.”

After Yuta left Hendery checked the group chat again, to see all three of his friends at first requesting and then threatening him with grave consequences. The party was being thrown by a senior Lucas was friends with. It’s not like Hendery didn’t enjoy parties, he was just too occupied right now. Maybe by the time Friday rolled in he would want to attend, it was just Wednesday today. This early in the semester he could afford to loosen up and waste a little time drinking and having fun.

“After all, there will always be some project I’ll need to work on. I should party now so I don’t regret it later when I won’t have any time to spare while preparing for exams.” he said out loud, to no one. Then YangYang’s words from last week came to his mind.

_"Don’t think you have the whole room to yourself even if your roommate is never around. A ghost is always lurking in here. You’ll never be alone Hendery.”_

_“Well, the ghost would never be alone either, I hardly ever go out.” Hendery had replied._

Even when YangYang himself wasn’t around he made Hendery laugh.

“Are you listening, Mr Ghost? I'm going to a party, you can have the room all to yourself on Friday. If you were holding back on my account, then congratulations, you can go batshit crazy on Friday night.”

There was obviously no response from the non-existent ghost. Not even the violent waving of curtains that YangYang told him had been a definite signal to the ghost’s presence, confirmed by multiple reliable witnesses.

And once again, Hendery went to the Dining hall alone and called it a night without seeing his actual, very human roommate.

*****

The next few days pass way too quickly for Hendery’s liking. Classes are as exhausting as ever. He barely sees his cousin when the entire reason he moved to the East Coast was so they could go to the same University. They used to talk more often when they lived in different states. Now when they live on the same floor, Lucas can’t be bothered to come over for a while. The couple of times Hendery has ventured to the room he shares with Mark, his cousin was always missing. Mark had entertained Hendery and he was a really chill guy to hang out with, Hendery still missed his childhood best friend.

“People really do change a lot growing up, don’t they. You know there was a time when Lucas took the long way home from school just so we could walk home together. Back in middle school, when we lived in the same city. We were inseparable, everyone knew the Wong bros will always be on the same team.” Hendery decided to have this candid conversation with the resident ghost. He could talk with Mark or YangYang about anything, anytime he felt like. But talking about this to anyone other than Lucas felt like a betrayal. Since Lucas himself was too busy to talk to him, Hendery’s otherworldly roommate seemed like a great candidate.

“Mr Ghost do you think Lucas has really become too cool to hang out with me? Am I thinking too much? Maybe he’s busy with classes too. Maybe he has to deal with shitty teammates too.” As expected there was no response. Hendery went on regardless, there was something weirdly calming about verbalising his thoughts.

“You are right Mr Ghost, I shouldn’t judge him so quickly. We’re going to a party later. Let’s see how it turns out. I should really start getting ready.”

It was at that moment that Hendery was reminded of how half of his stuff was still in his suitcase. He took out some things hanging in the closet, dug up a little in his suitcase. The thing was all through freshman year, Lucas was the one who always picked out outfits for him. Now that Lucas hadn’t been responding to his texts, until like 10 hours later, Hendery was on his own.

“Huh… what to do, what to do…” He tried a few outfits, but couldn’t settle on any with neither Lucas nor his Grandma to approve. “I can’t make up my mind.” Hendery pouted at his reflection. 

“Mr Ghost, I wish you could help me out. According to YangYang, you must have decades to experience in picking outfits for college parties. Seeing how you live in a closet.” A couple of seconds after the words had left Hendery’s mouth there was a soft sound coming from his closet.

Hendery turned to see a tee had fallen off on the floor. A belated victim of his urgent rummaging no doubt. He picked it up to see it was his favourite one too. A simple black t-shirt with ‘STAY COOL’ written on it in deep red. This didn’t look too bad.

“Hmm… When in doubt go with black.” Hendery wondered out loud.

“Nice choice Mr Ghost!” he said before changing into it and leaving.

*****

Hendery stumbled back into his room well past the curfew, but Yuta was nice enough to let him off with just a warning. He was so tired he had no energy to do anything other than toe off his shoes and fall into the bed. The night was dark, with little to no stars out, and the moon reduced to nothing but a sickle. Hendery pulled the covers up to his neck and turned to look out the window at the sky. Shadowy clouds kept shrouding and revealing the heavenly bodies.

“Don’t you think it's funny, Mr Ghost?” Hendery said softly, no one was probably listening, “ we humans determine the time by looking at the sun, the moon and the stars.”

“Days and seasons. Time keeps changing, moving forward, never what it was before. But the sun, it remains the same. The moon is the same too. It’s the same moon Lucas and I used to try and touch. We used to go up to the roof and jump, trying to touch the moon, to catch the stars.”

Hendery turned away from the night sky and instead started to stare at the ceiling. He didn’t know why he was talking to a ghost he didn’t even think existed, but it didn’t hurt so.

“Mr Ghost, you might be wondering why I’m so hung up that my best friend has grown up to be a different person and drifted apart. It's all a part of life, isn’t it.”

“But Lucas was my first friend ever, and for a long time, he was my only friend. It's hard to walk alone after walking along with someone for so long.”

“I thought we would have fun at the party today like we usually did. Dance and play beer pong and just y'know just like old times.”

“But Lucas is dating some hot senior and was busy with his cool senior friends because Lucas is a popular kid now.”  
“And he has no time for his old, loser friends.”

*****

Hendery woke up late on Saturday, feeling worse for wear even though he really didn’t drink all that much. After breakfast, he decided to call his grandma. The last time he had talked to her was the day he had landed back in New York. She was prepping for lunch already. Apparently, Hendery’s sister was going to come over, and they were both going to go to church together the next day.

His grandma made endless queries and gave countless directions. Was he eating properly? Eating on time was important. Missing a meal is very harmful to health. A growing boy like him should eat a lot and eat happily. Was he settling in well? Did he forget anything important? She could mail it if he wanted. And so one and so forth. Hendery could only reply with a quick yes or no.

His grandma knew all his habits, even if he tried to lie and say that yes he had unpacked and he cleaned up his room routinely, she would threaten him with a video call to confirm. She knew him too well, even guessing his lies from just his voice. After all, she did raise him and his sister after their parents’ passing away. Hendery was sad at times that his parents were not here with him, but his Grandma had never let him feel any less loved or cared for.

The call ended with her reminder to pray every day and take care of himself. Hendery ignored her first request. The last time he had prayed was when his parents were in the hospital. Since then, there never had been anything he had wanted so desperately. 

After getting some snacks, Hendery decided to check out if there was anything interesting on Netflix. By the time he was done with the first season of ‘The Order’ the sun had long set and Hendery was famished.  
It was long past dinner time though, so he settled for a cup of ramen and started the next season. Then fell asleep somewhere during the fourth episode.

*****

YangYang’s incessant knocking woke him up on Sunday, and the rest of the day was spent playing video games together. Until YangYang admitted he had a quiz the next day and was just playing to get rid of the nervousness. Hendery told him to start studying and even offered help, which the boy was grateful for.

“Wow, Hendery, you didn’t tell me you were smart.”  
“...”  
“Looking at you, I couldn’t have guessed. I assumed you must’ve been a class clown like me.” YangYang confessed with a giggle at the end.  
“I’ll have you know, I was actually the student council president.”  
“You’re shitting me.”  
“I shit you not. The teachers loved me. I did all the work during school and even at college now, I’m the one member of every group project who has to do the heavy lifting.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth that Hendery realised, one such group project was waiting for the heavy lifting to be done. 

“What happened?”  
“Huh? Nothing?” Hendery was the one who actually had to do the presentation, in the first class tomorrow.  
“Your face froze for a second there. Like a pigeon just shat in your coffee.”  
“Ah, nothing, it's nothing. Let’s just revise this concept one last time.” Hendery turned YangYang’s attention back to the book. The sooner he was prepared for this quiz the sooner Hendery could get back to his work.

By the time Hendery got back to his room and settled on his desk to wrap up the presentation the sun had gone into hiding behind skyscrapers. He had his trusted Doritos to keep him company. And well, the resident ghost too.

“Why am I such a mess Mr Ghost?” Hendery asked out loud. When he noticed the crumbs all over his notebook and laptop. There were some probably in his hair too, with the number of times he had to move them out of his eyes. He really should get a haircut one of these days.

“Honestly, you’re not a very nice roommate Mr Ghost. You should’ve told me to get my work done before deciding to binge on a show, or playing video games. In freshman year I relied on Mark all the time to remind me of deadlines. But we only share one class this year. We hardly ever have time to hang out, forget about discussing school work.”

He kept commenting about how this one classmate who's part he was covering kept making excuses every day. And how each new excuse was lamer than the last. Complained a little about the professor who took this class. 

He was thankfully done with it a little after one O'clock. Usually, he drank an unholy amount of coffee, but tonight just talking to YangYang's favourite ghost kept him awake.

As sleep eluded him, Hendery reckoned what it really was that made him procrastinate like that. He wasn't much of a straight-A student now, but he was responsible and did complete assignments in time.

"To he honest Mr Ghost," he said " that professor really intimidates me. I mean, I've never had a teacher who had thought of me as anything other than a model student. But this one, I don't know why but he makes me really uncomfortable."

" I'm really, _really_ nervous about this presentation. I just want to get it over with."

With that final remark, Hendery gave up on this one-sided conversation and closed his eyes to escape to dreamland.

*****

His 8 a.m. alarm woke him up in time for breakfast at the Dinning hall and he could still make it in time for the class. Hendery got up, got dressed quickly and went down to get breakfast with Mark.

Now that his hunger was satiated, Hendery came back to his room to gather his stuff, which he had neatly laid out already, last night. Then he decided to trade his ripped jeans for another pair. He was in the midst of putting it on when something from the corner of his eye caught his attention. The mirror.

When he turned to actually look at it, what he saw made Hendery lose his balance and fall flat on his ass in the middle of his room.

Written in red on the mirror, in large garish letters were the words _GOOD LUCK FOR YOUR PRESENTATION_ •‿•

Hendery's mind went back to the endless ranting he did last night. To the resident ghost.

After a few moments of stunned stillness, Hendery got up and pulled his pants up too. His door was still unlocked and he did not want to risk YangYang discovering him on the floor with his pants down. That too when he was wearing his lucky SpongeBob underwear.

He walked up to the mirror for a closer look. The message was written with his red sharpie, which was lying on the floor close by. Cap nowhere to be found. As for the penmanship, it looked like a third-grader had written this. With his left hand.

The only people Hendery knew who had such terrible handwriting were Mark and YangYang. 

Mark who probably had no idea of all the ghost stories related to this room. And YangYang who had been trying to convince Hendery that this room was haunted from literally the first moment they met.

YangYang could've easily come up and written it when Hendery had gone for breakfast. This looked like the kind of prank the younger boy would find funny.

Because that's what it was. A prank, supposed to be funny. It's not like the ghost Hendery had been talking to all this time as a joke actually existed. Even if it did, why would a ghost write him a message to wish him luck? For a stupid presentation? 

From all the stories YangYang told him, this ghost was more likely to scribble death threats than a tiny smiley face after wishing you luck.

So Hendery did not waste any more time on it and left for class. Things like the fact that he never told YangYang he had a presentation today pushed to the back of his mind and later forgotten.

*****

When he had returned to his room the message had still been there, somewhat smudged but still there. Hendery cleaned up the mirror with a smile, but couldn’t resist making a private joke,

“Thank you Mr Ghost,” he said looking at the now clean mirror, “Your best wishes really helped me today. The professor wasn’t really impressed with me or anything, but a few classmates told me I did well. They really liked my presentation, so I think it went well.”

“I would like to thank you for being with me through the whole journey, listening to me when I needed to vent and even encouraging me with the smiley face. I take my words back. You are a really nice roommate.” he laughed at the last bit. Then started to wonder where the hell his actual roommate was. Dude hasn’t been around the whole weekend. Maybe he stayed over at a friend’s place or something. Some people even went home for the weekend sometimes. Hendery knew he definitely would if he could.

Later in the evening when YangYang came up to his room Hendery had forgotten all about the writing on the mirror. They played a couple of rounds of this new indie game everyone was talking about. YangYang stabbed him in the back the one-time Hendery trusted him and then went for dinner. Hendery thought of asking Lucas to come with them too, but neither he nor Mark was in.

After eating dinner they went back to YangYang’s room and played the game with his roommates, Jaemin and Jeno. Hendery was pleased to know he was not the only one to be easily fooled by YangYang’s words and promises of not being the Imposter. Jeno fell for it a couple of times too. But bless the boy he never revealed who it was. Jaemin was less polite. The one time he saw YangYang’s green dummy kill Jeno’s poor orange one he outed the boy on the chat. Sadly no one believed him and Jaemin was ejected for his troubles. A laughing YangYang got a pillow in his face.

In the last round when YangYang killed Jaemin's pink dummy when his download task was 90% done, chaos erupted. Jaemin couldn’t convince the crewmates that YangYang was indeed the imposter, as his dummy was dead, Jenos’s dummy was dead and Hendery refused to cheat. So instead of just roaming around the ship as a ghost and completing all his pending tasks like Jeno, Jaemin gave up on the game entirely and started a pillow fight with YangYang. Hendery and Jeno got out of their way with Hendery eventually deciding to go back to his room. He ran into Yuta in the hallway with cries of 

_“I can’t believe I trusted you with my life-”_  
_“It’s just a GAME Jaemin.”_  
_“Oh, then why did you betray your best friend for it-”_

Coming from the room. Before Yuta could go ahead Hendery reassured him.

“We were just playing video games, and those two, they’re just having a friendly pillow fight.”  
“It’s Jaemin and YangYang, isn’t it?”  
“Yeah, don’t worry Jeno is there too. He’s acting as the referee.”  
Yuta laughed at that, patted Hendery’s shoulder, but still went to check what the commotion was about.

*****

Back at his room Hendery was in the process of getting into bed when his eyes went to the mirror and once again, he fell to the floor. Bringing the comforter down with him.

The garish red letters were back, so was the creepy smiley face. This time there was just one word.

 _CONGRATULATIONS_ •‿•

Now Hendery was by no means a scaredy-cat. Any day you ask him and he would very confidently deny the existence of ghosts or any fear of them. Just in the dark of night, in an empty room, on an eerily silent floor, he might be persuaded to be a little more open-minded.

Hendery pulled down the remaining comforter and wrapped it around himself, before getting up and approaching the mirror. There were numerous thoughts swirling in his mind. Mostly similar scenes in horror movies where the ghosts/demons jumped out at the protagonist from the mirror. 

YangYang, Hendery’s prime suspect, had been with him the whole time. Other than that he was absolutely sure he had locked his room. He definitely remembered bumping into his locked door on coming back. So YangYang was acquitted. But then who else? Mark or even Lucas could not do this. They had no way of getting into his room.

Then Hendery thought of a person who could very easily access the room in his absence and sighed with relief. Seriously, he got worked up too quickly, he thought, shaking his head. He turned the lights on and began to scrub the mirror clean again. It was his roommate. He had free access to the room! He could've easily written the messages when Hendery was down at the Dining Hall with YangYang. Or when he was asleep the previous time.

“For a moment there, I believed you were real Mr Ghost.” Hendery said with a relieved laugh, “Unlike the imaginary friend I had thought you to be.”

Scrubbing the mirror clean again, Hendery wondered why his roommate would play such a prank though? They didn’t know each other at all. How did he even know about Hendery’s presentation? Or that it went well…

But it had to be the Roommate. It just had to be, there was no other possibility.

“You are not the one who wrote these messages, are you Mr. Ghost?” Hendery wondered out loud, “It is my roommate, right?”

Still, he kept thinking. Could it be Yuta? He was the one who first told YangYang the ghost stories. He had the kind of humour to pull off pranks like this. But would an RA really do all this…

Hendery was too occupied with this thought to notice his capless red sharpie be lifted up from his desk by invisible hands. It only caught his eye when letters were being scribbled on his mirror.

Hendery watched, petrified, as the sharpie moved on its own to spell out the word _YES_ on the mirror. Hendery gaped at his own bewildered reflection and at the levitating sharpie. It was when the pen fell to the floor with a quiet sound that he spurred into action.

Hendery clutched the comforter draped around his shoulders and fled the haunted dorm room.

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope ya'll liked it. Stay tuned to find out how Hendery went from running away to falling in love with the ghost.
> 
> All Kudos and Comments are very much appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked what you read. Please do stick around for more!


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